Inside 'Deadliest Catch'

It's clear when you watch "Deadliest Catch" that these fishermen are the real deal. They work hard -- really hard -- and don't often have the time to explain everything that's happening.

When deckhands are spitting out jargon, it can be difficult to discern their meaning. Some of the terms they use are standard boat lingo: The aft is the rear end of the boat, or stern. The bow is the front of the boat. Starboard and port are, when you're facing forward, the right and left hand sides of the boat, respectively. Winward and leeward are toward and away from the wind, respectively. The head is the boat's bathroom, and the galley is its kitchen.

Other crab fishermen vocabulary is a little more unique to the biz. Here's a handy viewers' guide to help explain some of those terms used on the show:

Clean crab: crabs that are free of barnacles. They fetch the premium market price.

Cleaning house: getting rid of ice buildup on the boat

Deck: the main outdoor area of the boat where the fishing takes place. The workers are called deckhands and are led by the deck boss.

Engine room: the room below the deck and sleeping quarters that houses the boat's engine

F/V: short for fishing vessel. In print, F/V precedes the name of the boat.

Fleet: all the boats fishing for crab in the Bering Sea

Greenhorn: a new or inexperienced deckhand. Greenhorns have it rough and are heavily featured on the show.

Honey hole: a secret spot where a captain knows there are a lot of crab.

IFQs: individual fishing quotas, or the amount of crab each boat is allowed to catch per season

King and opilio (opie): the two varieties of crab that are fished on "Deadliest Catch." The boats can only catch these, per their permit. You might know opies better as snow crabs.

Setting back: when a crab pot is pulled, emptied and dropped back in the same location

Wheelhouse: also called the bridge, it's the area where the captain drives the boat. There's a camera mounted here to record the captain's take on each situation.

Now, if you hear, "That greenhorn is so bad, he couldn't drop a pot in a honey hole," or, "If the guys don't clean house faster, it'll take weeks to get our quota," you'll know exactly what they're talking about.

Kick the greenhorn out of the wheelhouse and click ahead to the next page, where we'll take a look at the boats and crews featured in the show.

Out of the Shadows

One thing fishing boat captains always need to look out for is the rogue wave. Rogues are at least twice the size of other waves in the same ocean area. They used to be considered sea lore, but scientific confirmation came in 1995 with the measurement of the "Draupner Wave." This wave occurred at the Draupner oil platform off the coast of Norway. In an area of the North Sea that was churning up 40-footers (12 meters), the Draupner rolled in at nearly 84 feet (25 meters). Rogue waves can topple boats in the blink of an eye and at this point are still considered to be a natural phenomenon. Research is ongoing to try and pinpoint the cause of these monster waves.